Rediscovered apple variety found on Chinese American pioneer’s Idaho homestead on Salmon River

A lost apple variety has been rediscovered on the Salmon River homestead of a famous 19th century Chinese American.

The apple has been given the provisional name Polly Bemis.

Bemis was brought to America as a slave in the 1870s. She eventually gained her freedom, married a white settler named Charlie Bemis and settled on the Salmon River about 44 miles east of Riggins, Idaho.

Apple hunter E.J. Brandt took samples from apple trees on the ranch in 2019. After DNA testing, scientists at Washington State University were unable to find any matches in their library of thousands of known apple varieties.

Brandt, of Troy, Idaho, is a board member of the Lost Apple Project, which scours old orchards and homesteads across the Northwest looking for forgotten apples.

The Lost Apple Project collaborates with the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon and the Historical Fruit Tree Working Group of North America. Together, they have found 31 apples once thought to be extinct.

Brandt described the medium-sized apple as a perfect balance of 70% sweet, 30% tart.

He found two trees of the variety, about 15 feet apart, along a creek feeding into the river. Grafts from the trees will be replanted and preserved at WSU’s Heritage Orchard.

Given the limited history of the property, it is likely that Bemis planted the trees, Brandt said. The ranch is still remote, only accessible by boat or helicopter.

At one time, the Polly Bemis apple most likely had another name, Brandt said, but that name is believed to have been lost to history.

Thousands of apple varieties have been lost since the 1800s. Varieties are dying out because of monocultures and plowing of old orchards for other crops.

In wild areas, forgotten apple trees are also vulnerable to destruction by bears, Brandt said.

Today, the 26-acre Polly Bemis Ranch is owned by a not-for-profit corporation that uses it for recreational facilities for its 100 shareholders. Bemis’ cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A novel based on Bemis’ life, “Thousand Pieces of Gold,” was adapted into a film in 1991.

The Lost Apple Project also recently discovered another variety on a homestead near Moscow, Idaho. That apple has been given the provisional name Gamble Gold, after the homesteader Daniel Gamble.